Every two years, Visual Arts Instructor Muriel Miller takes students to the British Isles to practice their drawing skills. They are joined by biology students from Central Connecticut State University for a unique interdisciplinary experience.

Students have the opportunity to develop and apply skills in art and biology in the rich biological settings and landscapes of coastal Ireland. The Burren area of Western Ireland is a startling landscape of rock terraces, megalithic tombs, and caverns and castles; a remarkable diversity of wildflowers grow in cracks that traverse the rock terraces. Doolin is most famous as a major center for traditional Irish music. The Connecticut contingent crosses the Irish sea to Grasmere, Cumbria, England and moves on the Lake District, England’s largest National Park and a premier hiking area, a landscape of low mountains, pasturelands, lakes and streams. In addition, students visit many local sites, including John Ruskin’s home, where they see his paintings and drawings of the local landscape. In previous years, they have spent time in the Scottish Highlands and Isle of Skye as well as London.